Emily is a theatre and film director, producer, scholar, career coach, surfer, gardener, and dog mom. Most of her career has focused upon developing new works for both stage and film. Emily is currently focusing on limited producing projects, career coaching leaders in the arts, and pursing a PhD to explore sustainable business innovations in the performing arts sector. She is passionate about authentic leadership, people-first innovation, and cultivating work-life balance. Pursuing her interests in architecture, permaculture design, gardening, and surfing are how she spends her free hours.

In addition to her own projects, Emily assists Tony-award-winning director and MacAurthur Fellow, David Cromer.

Emily is passionate about creating community, fostering positive change, and sharing career-development resources with both young and established artists. During her time as Literary & Artistic Manager at ACT – A Contemporary Theatre, Emily lead the charge to make the institution a Deaf-friendly space, managing artistic programming, inclusive casting, meaningful community partnerships, and capital improvements which included the implementation of closed captioning in both main-stage spaces. Emily also founded and managed the Kenan Directing Fellowship, which generously supported emerging directors with mentorship and unprecedented financial resources.

As an educator, Emily has adjudicated new play festivals at universities, taught play submission workshops, presented master classes is playwrighting at conferences, taught graduate courses in directing, acting, and movement technique, and guest-directed and choreographed university productions. 

Favorite professional directing credits include AN ILIAD (Brick Monkey Theater Company), CORIOLANUS: Fight Like a Bitch (Rebel Kat Productions), A Christmas Carol (ACT- A Contemporary Theatre), the world premiere of Worse Than Tigers (RED STAGE), Gregory Award-winning Romeo & Juliet (Seattle Immersive Theatre), Pilgrims (Forward Flux), Snowglobed (Playing in Progress) and Milwaukee Repertory Theater’s The Other Woman, Wandering and their world premiere of the devised play Pot of Gold. Favorite choreography credits include Slaughterhouse Five (Book-It Repertory Theatre), Don Nordo Del Midwest (Café Nordo), A Christmas Carol (ACT Theatre), and the UMO Ensemble's Resistance Cabaret - Resistance is Fertile! 

Emily was born in California, raised in New Jersey, earned her BA from Bucknell University, earned her MFA in Directing from Ohio University, and is embarking upon PhD research at Waikato University.